Egypt sentences three Jazeera journalists to 7 years

CAIRO, June 23 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court sentenced three Al Jazeera journalists from seven to ten years over charges for aiding the currently blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood.

The journalists included Australian Peter Greste, Egyptian- Canadian Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and producer Baher Mohamed, who work for Qatri-based Al-Jazeera English TV.

Mohamed also received an additional three-year jail sentence on a separate charge involving possession of weapons.

Another three foreigners including two British journalists and a Dutch journalist were handed down 10-year sentences in absentia.

The journalists were arrested in a security raid on a Cairo hotel room from which they were operating last December. They were then accused of spreading false news and lies that harmed the national interests and supplying money and equipment for 16 Egyptians.

Two defendants including the son of Mohammed el-Beltagy, a senior figure in the Muslim Brotherhood, were acquitted.

Some of the other accused, among a total of 20, were charged of assaulting the public institutions and harming national unity and social order, and jeopardize the lives of citizens.

Other three Egyptian students, who were also charges of providing Al-Jazeera journalists with footage along with other charges, also received seven-year sentences.

All the charges could be appealed.

Immediately following announcing the verdict, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said the Australian government is shocked at the verdict," adding we are deeply worried that a sentence has been imposed and appalled at the severity of it.

BEIJING, June 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Judicial sources say an Egyptian court has confirmed death sentences against the leader of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood and at least 182 of his supporters.

The court’s decision came two months after it referred the case against the Brotherhood’s general guide Mohamed Badie and hundreds of others to the state’s highest religious authority, the Mufti. They were charged over violence that erupted in the southern town of Minya in July, following the army’s ouster of Islamist President Mohamed Morsi. Full story

CAIRO, June 19 (Xinhua) -- An Egyptian court on Thursday sentenced a leader of the blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood group and 13 of its leading members to death over charges of inciting violence outside a mosque in Giza, state-run Ahram news website reported.

After a seven-hour hearing, the verdict concluded with referring their files to the country's Grand Mufti to optionally get his Islamic opinion before execution. The final verdict, which still can be appealed, will be issued in early August. Full story